Ehime Prefectural International Center

JapanTourist.jp exists because good information about Japan can be hard to come by, especially in the provinces. In Matsuyama, there’s a small tourist information office in JR Matsuyama railway station, and another in Dogo. Remarkably though, nobody in these offices speaks English. There are many people in Ehime who speak good English, but none of them are employed at the main tourist information offices.

However, between Matsuyama city center and Dogo is the Ehime Prefectural International Center—EPIC for short, housed in a shed-like building next to Himegin Hall, also known as the Kenmin Bunka Kaikan or Public Cultural Hall. It’s close to the Minami-machi stop of the No. 5 tram to Dogo. Here there are maps and guides, but more importantly, there are people who speak a number of languages. A reputable printed guidebook has this to say;

“If you need help, the City Tourist Information Office has maps and brochures, but no English support. For real assistance with anything, head to the Ehime Prefectural International Center. EPIC is a peerless resource for advice on the city and region. The desk staff will bend over backwards to help you with event info, transport tips, hotel reservations, and even rental bikes (for a refundable ¥1,000 deposit).”

In addition to tourist information, EPIC has an extensive and eclectic library of books in English, for reference or borrowing. If you’re in need of some reading material during your stay, there’s a good chance you can find something at EPIC to interest you.

The mission of the International Center is to promote international exchange, and so if the reason for your visit is more business than tourism, you can seek advice at EPIC about that too. Although EPIC isn’t a business consultancy, the staff have a wide network of contacts within the prefecture and may be able to point you in the right direction.

Besides Japanese, the staff at EPIC speak English, Korean, Chinese and Singhalese. The Singhalese speaker tells me that she has yet to receive an enquiry in that language, but she lives in hope. In the meantime, she uses her fluent English to very helpful effect.